American Utilities (Kitchen) , 2026

American Utilities (Kitchen) was photographed inside Marcelo’s Brooklyn apartment, a space he has spent years transforming into an extension of his visual world. From the painted cabinetry and vintage refrigerator to the magnets, dishware, and smallest details throughout the room, everything within the frame was deliberately chosen, altered, or built by Marcelo. It is simultaneously his home and one of the environments from which his photographs emerge.

For years, Marcelo knew he wanted to photograph the kitchen but waited until he had a reason to do so. The idea finally came from a memory of growing up with his siblings, when they would stage their own fashion shows and talent shows inside their small family home. Their parents would be nearby, carrying on with whatever they were doing, while the children transformed an ordinary room into a stage. American Utilities (Kitchen) recreates that feeling: a fashion show unfolding in the middle of everyday domestic life, while everyone around it simply carries on.

At its heart, the photograph is about wanting more than your circumstances. The apartment is imperfect, crowded, and visibly lived in. Everyone seems absorbed in their own world, including the dogs, yet together they create the peculiar intimacy of a family. Against that domestic disorder, a model turns the kitchen into a runway, introducing beauty, ambition, and fantasy into the everyday.

Like much of Marcelo’s work, the scene exists somewhere between reality and performance. Nothing has completely escaped the ordinary. Reality has simply been slightly disrupted.

The work is printed on fine art paper and presented in a museum-quality frame made from wood imported from Italy, with 99% UV-protective museum glass. Its scale, color, and sculptural presence make it a powerful statement piece for a residential or commercial collection.